Let's look at Coach Funk's pre-Michigan time with Coach Hoke

I decided to make as much sense as I could from what is available online regarding OL coach Darrell Funk’s time with Coach Hoke. I didn’t get into Funk’s time with Colorado State, because he wasn’t with Hoke then and because I don’t have the time. We’re all pretty familiar with the story of what’s happened since the two coaches arrived in Ann Arbor, so I also omitted that. What is below, then, is the story of Funk and Hoke at Ball State and San Diego State – as least as best as I can piece it together. As you’ll see, I often rely on general offensive statistics, because there are of course few (if any) statistics available for just an offensive line.

A final initial note: Anyone with more chart and graph-making ability than me is more than welcome to turn the stats below into charts/graphs.

Final initial note part II: I can't get the spacing below fixed. Apologies.

Introductory Thought:

Before I start, I want to point out something that we shouldn’t lose sight of when analyzing the information below. Namely, players (and coaches, for matter) are not the same from year-to-year. College football players – being human beings and college kids – go through ups and downs that no coach can control. Those ups and downs are the result of health problems (or a lack of them), family trouble (or a lack of it), dating drama (or a lack of it), academic trouble (or a lack of it), partying too much (or not at all), committing to offseason training (or slacking off), etc. A foot is always twelve inches, but Johnny Offensive Tackle may not have been the same guy in 2011 that he was in 2012. Accordingly, we never have a perfect point of reference when comparing Johnny’s performance under his 2011 coach to his performance under his 2012 coach.

2008: Funk arrives at Ball State

Funk was only Brady Hoke’s OL coach for one year at Ball State. In fact, he didn’t coach the entire O-line that year. Funk coached the OGs and centers in 2008, but John Powers coached the tackles (and tight ends). This was something of a demotion for Powers, who coached the BSU O-line by himself in 2006 and 2007.*

The story of the 2008 Ball State offense begins in 2005, when BSU’s offense pretty much sucked. It averaged 299 yards per game and 21.1 points per game, the latter good for 94thnationally. Things picked up in 2006, with the offense generating 351.3 yards per game and 27.2 points per game, the latter being 39thin the country. The offense improved yet again in 2007, gaining 433.8 yards per game (including 148.9 per game at 4.1 ypc on the ground, an improvement of 57 ypg) and scoring 31.5 points per game (40thnationally).

In 2008, BSU went 12-2. The offense improved slightly in total yards, 442.5 yards per game, and impressively in rushing yards, gaining 184.5 per game (5.0 ypc). It also improved slightly in scoring, putting up points at rate of 34.9 per game.

In 2009, with Funk and Hoke in San Diego, the BSU offense took a major step back, gaining 293.8 yards per game and scoring 19.2 points per game (108thin the country). This presumably was caused in large part by the loss of QB Nate Davis, who declared early for the NFL draft and was taken in the 5thround by San Francisco. It was also presumably a result of the loss of several offensive linemen, who are discussed below. It’s worth noting that BSU did not lose its leading rusher (MiQuale Lewis) in 2009, and its rushing attack fell off to 159.4 yards per game, which was a relatively small decline compared to that of the passing attack (which withered to 134.4 yards per game).

*Interestingly, Powers was retained by new Ball State HC Stan Parrish in 2009, but he did not coach the O-line.

Who were Funk’s OLs at Ball State?

Funk’s starting line was OT Robert Brewster, OG Kreg Hunter, C Dan Gerberry, OG Michael Switzer, and OT Andre Ramsey. It was an experienced group, albeit one that left high school with little publicity. Information for each is listed below.

Andre Ramsey:

Not rated coming out of high school in 2005.

A true senior in 2008 (i.e., no red shirt).

Essentially a four-year starter.

First-team all-MAC in 2008.

Made several NFL rosters but has been a journeyman.

Michael Switzer:

A two-star player per Scout in 2007.

A true sophomore in 2008.

A new starter in 2008.

No all-conference honors in 2008.

Appears to have made it to an NFL training camp but no more.

Dan Gerberry:

Not rated coming out of high school in 2004.

A redshirt senior in 2008.

A four-year starter.

First-team all-MAC in 2008.

Was on the Lions' roster for a couple of years.

Kreg Hunter:

A two-star player per Scout in 2007.

A redshirt freshman in 2008.

A new starter in 2008.

No conference honors in 2008.

Doesn’t appear to have had a pro career.

Robert Brewster:

A two-star player per Scout in 2005.

A true senior in 2008.

A four-year starter.

First-team all-MAC and Outland Watchlist in 2008.

(He may have been first-team all-MAC in 2007 too.)

Drafted in third round of NFL draft but only played one game before being cut.

Various things to consider when making sense of Funk’s time at BSU:

*There were only 92 MAC players on NFL squads at the start of 2012 (I couldn’t find the number for this year), and only 16 of them were OLs. These numbers – 92 and 16 – include players who played for teams that were in the MAC during the players’ careers but are not in the conference any longer (Temple, for example). This means that – by including those former MAC teams – there was only one OL per MAC school in the NFL at the start of 2012.

*Gerberry (not-rated redshirt senior), Ramsey (not-rated redshirt senior), and Brewster (two-star true senior) made up three-quarters of the all-MAC OL in 2008 as decided by the conference. Scout omitted Gerberry from its all-conference team (I can't find the non-BSU members of the team awarded by the conference itself), which was made up of Brewster, Ramsey, and three seniors, one of whom was a two-star and two of whom were unrated coming out of high school.

2010: Hoke and Funk go to San Diego State

Funk was Hoke’s only OL coach during his two years at SDSU. They inherited an offense that moved that ball at only a 312.4 ypg clip and scored at a rate of only 19.2 ppg (104thin the nation) in 2008, though they also inherited future stand-out QB Ryan Lindley. The team particularly struggled to run the ball, gaining only 73.2 rushing per game vs. 239.2 passing.

In 2009, the SDSU offense improved to 341.1 ypg, with most of that improvement coming through the air (263.6 ypg passing vs. 78.3 ypg rushing). The offense scored 23.3 points per game, good for 85thin the country. Additionally, the OL gave up only the 16th-fewest sacks in the nation.

In 2010, SDSU’s offense took off. Future third round pick Ronnie Hillman (RB) joined a unit that gained 456.7 ypg. The offense gained more yards both passing (295.4 ypg) and rushing (161.3 ypg) than it did in 2009. It also scored 35 ppg, good for 19thin the country. Also, the OL shined even more in pass protection than it did the prior year, yielding only the sixth-fewest sacks allowed in the country.

In 2011, with Hoke and Funk at Michigan, SDSU gained 427.4 ypg (242.9 passing/184.5 rushing). They scored 29.5 ppg, which was 47thin the country. It’s worth noting that they lost relatively few players – a starting OL and both starting WRs – between 2010 and 2011. That said, those WRs took 2572 yards in receiving with them when they left campus.

*The MWC apparently had 150 players on NFL rosters at the start of the 2012 season (again I couldn’t find the numbers for this year). I could not find how many of those are OLs.

*The 2010 all-MWC first team O-line was made up of a 24-year old four-star redshirt junior, three two-star redshirt seniors, and a redshirt senior who entered college as an unranked DT per Scout.

*The 2010 all-MWC second team was made up of a 24-year old two-star junior, a three-star true junior, a 24-year old redshirt junior who entered college as an unranked DE per Scout, a true senior who apparently entered college unranked, and Trask Iosefa.

Conclusion:

I don’t see any obvious and firm conclusions that one can draw from what’s above other than that it’s good to have experienced O-lineman – 24-year olds if you can get them! As I mentioned above, it’s very hard to separate the success of an offense from the success of an offensive line. Was Funk a better coach because he had Ryan Lindley, Nate Davis, MiQuale Lewis, and Ronnie Hillman?

Funk hasn’t been a miracle worker, but Funk, Coach Hoke, Coach Wellman, and former BSU OL coach John Powers put together some apparently high-functioning lines at BSU and SDSU. The group they put together at BSU had greater personal success than did the group at SDSU, but at both schools the coaches in question (with and later without Powers) oversaw dramatic offensive improvement at various points.

Echoing others ... thanks for pulling this together. It lends context to the debates of late.

Now I'm curious. Offensive line coaches work in the background for the most part. Has there been an offensive line coach, Michigan or otherwise, that's generally recognized as a great coach at that position? I would think the really good ones rather rapidly move up to the OC position.

I'm wondering what makes a great offensive line coach good at that role. It must be more than just knowledge of the positions. From what I can gather it has something to do with "realizing potential," but how exactly is that done ... and how much of that is the result of the coach and how much of it is the natural maturation of a gifted player?

I'm neither anti-Funk or pro-Funk, because I honestly have no way to accurately assess his qualities. Hence my questions ... I'm trying to understand the framework one might use to assess an offensive line coach's contribution.

Hell's Bell's, we had Jerry Hanlon right here at UM from 1969 through the 1991 season, and he was widely regarded as one of the best OL coaches in the country. He had 19 of his OLs at Michigan achieve All-America status, and I think he was even a consultant to some NFL teams in his later years.

If I was Brady Hoke, I'd have a private consultation with Hanlon just to pick his brain about what the current staff might be doing right and wrong.

That's the name from the past I could not remember, and I was too lazy to look up.

I agree Hoke should be having consultations ... and he and Funk no doubt are. I would find it very hard to believe they're holed up and not seeking answers from others they trust.

Now, with respect to Hanlon ... his 1991 season is 22 years ago. So I re-ask the question: who's recognized as a great coach at that position today?

That's not a stupid question. It is directly related to the calls some are making to fire Funk. Because if Funk is fired, the very next question is who to hire in his place. And to answer that one needs to understand who are the great offensive line coaches and, failing to hire one of them, then hire someone like them.

So, who are the contemporary great offensive line coaches? And which would Michigan have a realistic shot at getting?

Unfortunately, Funk's job security at this point has less to do with his actual abilities as an O-line coach as the need for the organization to demonstrate a willingness to remove anyone potentially not up to snuff.

It's this coaching staff's third year, with some, but little, to show for it. Funk seems to be the obvious choice to be thrown under the bus, regardless of whether he deserves to be there or no. I just think there will be so much serious questioning as to Hoke's ability to make the tough personnel choices if he doesn't shake up the staff at all, that the questioning itself will become a problem for him. Funk seems to be the easiest, and least disruptive choice.

Funk turned David Molk into a Rimington Award winner. Was anyone talking about him in those terms under the previous staff? With guys who were experienced in 2011 the team produced two 1000 yard rushers. The team stepped back in 2012 with the loss of Molk on offense and Martin and Van Bergen on defense. I really believe youth and less talented recruits from the RR era are the issue. 2011 was not an accident. These guys came in and turned a 7-6 squad into an 11-2 squad. I think we need to give it a couple years. All of these coaches deserve a full five years to turn the program around. I wasn't expecting us to go back either, but given the state of recruiting, especially in 2010 it makes sense.

In my other post in this thread I ask what criteria one might use to evaluate how well an offensive line coach is performing. I expected to see responses like, "Results on the field!" And while that is true in general, such an answer does beg the question about Funk in 2011.

My sense is the same as yours ... this interior line is likely going to take a leap this year to next. All the hand-wringing over the interior line performance against MSU is a bit overdone.

yes people were talking about molk, he was on the preseason watch list for the rimmington i believe. he was also a multi year starter who helped denard gain his 1700? yds rushing the year before. not like he was some scrub who hadnt done anything before.

Sorry Mgoagogo, you can't give Funk credit for Molk since he was a senior upon their arrival. Certainly he didn't hurt Molk's career trajectory, but you can't really use that as an example of success.

If you do, then you have to look at the rest of the guys he inherited too. A common refrain is that we only had 8 scholarship linemen when Hoke arrived. That is totally the fault of RichRod and continues to plague our OL today - I would not disagree with that. However, let's look at what Funk & Co. (nice band name, right?) have done with those 8 guys.

Here was the roster in 2011 upon Hoke's arrival.

David Molk (R-Sr) - Had a good season to end his career

Ricky Barnum (R-Jr) - Was pretty awful, did not develop

Eliot Mealer (R-Jr) - Was pretty awful, did not develop

Rocko Khoury (R-Jr) - Lost his job, left the team

Patrick Omameh (R-Jr) - Was mediocre, but clearly regressed throughout career

Mark Huyge (R-Sr) - Was mediocre his final season

Michael Schofield (R-So) - Has been solid, though hard to say he's improved

Taylor Lewan (R-So) - Has been mostly very good, though is he elite?

So Funk inherited 8 linemen, only one of whom (Lewan) has actually shown significant improvement in the last three years. Perhaps the rest were just not as talented and combined with another coaching change were never able to improve. But it is hard to give Funk/Borges/Hoke credit for any of those guys aside from maybe Lewan.

On top of that, Hoke brought in Miller and Bryant that year and those two guys have only known this coaching staff. Both have been unable to help the team at a glaring position of weakness now in their third year with the program. So in the first 10 linemen they've had, it is hard to use any of them to defend the coaches. That's concerning.

I'm not saying Funk should be fired, especially since the OP pointed out some obvious signs of success that he should get credit with at BSU and SDSU. But I am saying that we have no evidence at Michigan in his favor and we're left to hope we see massive improvement from the last two recruiting classes in order to fix the OL problems.

My prediction is that Funk and Borges are tied to the next four games. If we finish 3-1, they're both fine. If we finish 2-2 or 1-3 with a humiliating defeat to OSU at home then something will have to change. Maybe it is a simple demotion of Funk to co-OL coach like what happened at BSU. Or maybe they clean house. But something would have to change.......right?

A mitigating issue to what you posted is that all of those guys - save Bryant (the lone player above whose original commitment was to Hoke) - were recruited to run RR's blocking schemes, not Hoke's/Funk's. In those circumstances, I'm not sure that a 3/8 success rate (an admittedly very rough way of looking at things) is bad. We can argue all day about how much credit Funk should get for the success of Molk, Lewman, and Schofield, but that credit should presumably be no less than the blame he gets for the failure of the others.

None of this is to absolve the coaches of anything. I simply don't know what to think of them.

Just look back at the film of the South Carolina game and/or listen to Clowney's remarks of their match-up. I think (good/smart) teams are avoiding lining up their best rushers against Lewan because he is erasing them.

I believe an analyis also has to account for strength of schedule. If you look at the SDSU schedule they had the luxury of playing some of the worse defenses in all of college football. It would be safe to say most of the Mountain West was a tire fire that year.

SDSU was #13 in the country in offensive FEI. There were some pretty good teams behind them: Oregon, Ohio St., LSU. It's hard to argue that that's because SDSU can get better talent than those schools.